Wrinkle-free cover for reclining seat

ABSTRACT

Improved seat cover for a seat having a tiltable back member includes a rear cover portion which covers the entire rear of the seat back and seat cushion, thus improving the aesthetic appearance of the seat and eliminating any chance of a person&#39;&#39;s fingers being pinched as the seat is moved from its forward to its normal position. The lower end portion of the rear cover portion is attached to a resilient means such as a sheet of elastic material or to a plurality of springs located under the bottom of the seat and the resilient means is attached to the seat frame under tension. Thus, the rear cover portion can accommodate to changes in the distance between the lower edge of the seat back member and the back of the seat cushion as the seat is tilted, so as to retain a taut, unwrinkled appearance in any position of adjustment.

United States Patent [191 Hellman Apr. 16, 1974 WRlNKLE-FREE COVER FOR RECLINING SEAT [75] Inventor: Richard F. Hellman, Milwaukee,

Wis.

[73] Assignee: Universal Oil Products Company, Des Plaines, Ill.

[22] Filed: Nov. 24, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 309,532

3,226,157 12/1965 Reinfeld et al. 297/219 Primary Examiner-James C. Mitchell Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James R. Hoatson, Jr.; Barry L. Clark; William H. Page, II

[5 7] ABSTRACT Improved seat cover for a seat having a tiltable back member includes a rear cover portion which covers the entire rear of the seat back and seat cushion, thus improving the aesthetic appearance of the seat and eliminating any chance of a persons fingers being pinched as the seat is nioved from its forward to its normal position. The lower end portion of the rear cover portion is attached to a resilient means such as a sheet of elastic material or to a plurality of springs located under the bottom of the seat and the resilient means is attached to the seat frame under tension. Thus, the rear cover portion can accommodate to changes in the distance between the lower edge of the seat back member and the back of the seat cushion as the seat is tilted, so as' to retain a taut, unwrinkled appearance in any position of adjustment.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEUAPR 16 3974 3.804457 Figure 2 Figure 3 Pr/ar Arr WRINKLE-FREE COVER FOR RECLINING SEAT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to upholstered covers for reclining seats and especially to covers for seats of the type used in vehicles which may be tilted either forwardly or rearwardly from a normal position. Conventionally, seats which have a tiltable back portion have either separate or eseentially separate covers for the back and seat portions as exemplified by US. Pat. No. 3,180,681 to Buralli. Where the seat and back cushions are not adapted to be tilted relative to one another, it

.is usually preferable from an appearance standpoint to upholster the seat so that the rear cover portion extends for the entire height of the seat back and seat cushion portions. Obviously, if a seat having a tiltable back member is upholstered with conventional materials so that the rear cover is rigidly anchored under the seat cushion, the rear cover member will be considerably stretched when the seat is tilted forward and either become torn away from its anchor points or else present a wrinkled appearance when the seat is brought back to its normal position due to .the stretching of the material which would take place during tilting. In view of this situation, it is conventional practice to anchor the rear cover portion of an upholstered tiltable seat to the lower end of the back cushion. Seats upholstered in such a manner do not have a particularly pleasing appearance from the rear in view of the gap which exists between the back cushion and the seat cushion. When the seats are being placed in a vehicle and it is desirable that the driver's seat be fixed and the passengers seat be tiltable, one is faced with the choice of upholstering both seats in the two piece manner required for the tiltable seat or in having the two seats upholstered in a non-matching manner.

Although many workers in the prior art have utilized spring members and elastic panels or members to maintain seat covers in a taut condition, as exemplified by U.s. Pat. Nos. 2,286,171; 2,601,890; 3,199,916; 3,220,768 and 3,614,156; they have not succeeded in making an upholstered cover for a tilting seat which covers the entire back of the seat and yet remains wrinkle free regardless of the manner in which the seat is tilted.

Another difficulty which is sometimes encountered with conventional tilting vehicle seats arises from the fact that they usually have exposed stop members. The exposed stops present an opportunity for pinched fin- Yet another object is to enclose the seat hinging and stop mechanisms so as to prevent a person from inadvertently having his fingers pinched.

These and other objects are achieved by the seat cover of the present invention which comprises a conventional cover portion for the seat bottom and a unique and novel cover portion for the seat back. The

back cover includes a front portion, a back portion and a pair of side portions connecting the front and back portions. The side portions can also be integral with the frontor rear portions. The front: portion can be attached in a conventional manner used for fixed seats by passing it between the seat and back cushions and over the rear of the seat cushion to a point underneath the seat cushion where it is attached to the frame. Where the seat cushion is formed of resilient foam there is no need to connect the front cover portion to the seat frame in a resilient manner since forward tilting movement of the seat will merely compress the foam rather than stretch the upholstery material. The situation is quite different with the back portion of the seat cover since a forward tilting movement of the seat back would require a considerable stretching of the upholstery material anchored between the top of the seat sewnto the lower trailing edge of the back cover portion. The doubled over forward edge of the elastic sheet surrounds a rod which is connected to the seat frame. The elastic sheet member is mounted in a normally tensioned condition so that regardless of what gers if a person places his hand on a stop member when the seat is in a forward position and forgets to remove it when the seat is tilted back .to its normal position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION position the seat back assumes the rear cover portion will remain taut and wrinkle free. In order to prevent the major part of the rear cover portion from being constantly subjected to the tension of the resilient means, a listing is sewn to the rear cover portion along a line adjacent and parallel to the: bottom of the seat back. The listing is fastened to a tacking strip on the lower portion of the frame of the seat back by fastening means such as staples. Since the listing is formed of a non-stretch material, it will prevent that part of the seat cover portion which is above the listing from moving as the resilient means pulls on the lower end of the seat cover portion.

In an alternative embodiment, the resilient means for permitting the seat back cover portion to move relative to the seat cushion frame is a plurality of tension springs which Connect a bar sewn into the lower end of the back cover portion to the seat frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view of a seat upholstered with the novel seat cover;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the seat of FIG. 1 with its normal position shown in solid lines and its forwardand rear positions shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a prior art seat;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, partially sectioned side view of the lower rear corner of the seat shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing a modification;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, partially sectioned side view of the lower rear corner of the modified seat cover of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, a tiltable seat indicated generally at 10 is shown. The seat 10 includes a seat cushion l2 and a tiltable back support cushion 14 which may be moved into either a forward position 14 (shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2) or into various positions 'of recline, one of which is shown in dotted lines at 14". The hinging and reclining mechanism (not shown) for the seat back 14 is formed into the seat cushions along with the frame members to which it is mounted and forms no part of the present invention. A

The seat cushion 12 is covered by a seat cover 16 which extends under the seat cushion in a conventional manner and is anchored to the seat frame (not shown) by a plurality of hog rings 18. The seat cover 16 has a rear portion which extends downwardly around the back of the seat cushion and forwardly a short distance under the seat to a point where it is attached to the seat frame by fastening means (not shown) which are attached to a rod 20 which is passed through a loop formed in the seat cover material as can be seen in FIG. 4.

FIG. 3 illustrates a typical prior art type of tiltable seat 20 wherein the seat cushion 22 and the seat back 24 are hinged together by mechanism (not shown) to permit the back 24 to tilt forward over the cushion 22. The seat back cover 26 covers only the back member 24 so that an opening 28 is defined between the back member 24 and the seat cushion 22. As previously noted, a seat having separately covered back and seat cushions is not as aesthetically appealing as a seat wherein the cover for the back member continues down to cover the lower rear portion of the seat cushion. Furthermore, the opening 28 permits some possibility of a person located behind the seat, such as a child, from placing his fingers in the hinging mechanism and perhaps having them crushed as the seat back is suddenly returned from the tilted forward position to a normal or reclining position. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the improved seat back cover of the present invention is indicated generally at 32 and comprises a front cover portion 34 which may terminate in a lower front cover end portion 34' at a position just behind the seat cushion l6 whereat it is connected to a cover extension portion 36 which may be made ofa less costly material, such as osnaburg, since it is hidden from view. The seat back cover 32 includes side panel portions 38 which may either be formed separately or which may constitute an extension of the front cover portion 34 or the upper rear cover portion 40. The exposed rear portion of the seat back cover comprises an upper panel portion 40 which has a constant vertical length and a lower panel portion 42 which has a variable vertical exposed length. depending on the angle at which the seat back 14 is tilted. The upper and lower panel portions are sewn to each other along a seam line 44. The upper and lower panel portions 40,42 are also sewn to a listing of a strong. low cost material such as osnaburg, which is stapled to a strip 50 carried by the seat frame of the back member 14 by means of staples 52. The purpose of the listing 48 is to insure that any downward pull applied to the lower panelportion 42 covering the back of the seat cushion will not be transmitted to the upper panel portion 40. Furthermore, when the seat is tilted to a rear portion, as shown at 14" in FIG. 2, the listing 48 will maintain the rear upholstery material in tight contact with the upper rear edge of the seat cushion 12 rather than permit it to assume a straight line path between the upper rear edge of the seat back 14" and the lower rear edge of the seat cushion 12.

The lower rear panel portion 42 covers the rear surface of the seat cushion 12 and includes an end portion 42 which extends forwardly under the cushion 12. The forward end of end portion 42 is sewn at 60 to the ends of a folded over strip of elastic material 58 such as a blend of nylon and spandex fibers which is looped over a metal rod 62 at its forward end. The rod 62 is held to the seat frame at a plurality of points by fastening means such as hog rings 64. The rod 62 thus permits the lower rear panel portion 42 to be maintained under the tension of the elastic 58 since the panel portion is fixed to the frame of the seat back member by listing 48 and staples 52. The rod 62 is mounted so that the elastic 58 will be stretched in any position of the seat back 14. Thus, the forward end of rear panel portion 42, as defined by the sew line 60, will move rearwardly from the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 1 to the dotted line position 60' when the seat is tilted forwardly.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a modification of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. The upper rear panel portion 140, sew line 144 and lower panel portion 142' are identical to elements 40, 44 and 42 of FIG. 1 but the resilient means which tensions the panel portion 142 comprises a series of tension springs 158 rather than a sheet of elastic material. The springs 158 are anchored at spring end 163 to a spring 164 or other frame portion of the seat cushion member. To spread the spring force across the width of the panel portion 142, a rod 162 is placed into a pocket formed at the end of panel portion 142 Where it is engaged by the end 159 of spring 158. To permit the panel portion 142' to move relative to the fixed rod anchoring the cover 116 for the seat cushion to the frame, the rear end 158 of spring 158 is left uncoiled. Thus, tilting movement of the seat in a forward direction will stretch springs 158 and cause rod 162 to move rearwardly to the dotted line position 162.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a foam cushioned reclining seat having hinged seat and back cushions, the improvement comprising an upholstered seat back cover which covers the entire rear portion of the seat and back cushions, said seat back cover including a front panel portion having an attachment portion which passes between said cushions and is anchored to the seat frame under the seat cushion, said seat back cover further including a rear panel portion having an attachment portion extending under said seat cushion, resilient means attached to said attachment portion of said rear panel portion along the lower, forward edge thereof, said resilient means being positioned under said seat cushion and attached to the frame thereof forwardly of said rear panel portion under sufficient tension to permit said rear panel portion to remain taut in any position of adjustment of the seat back.

2. The reclining seat of claim 1 wherein a listing is attached at one end to said rear panel portion near the bottom of the seat back cushion and at its other end to the lower portion of the back cushion, said listing serving to anchor said rear panel portion to said back cushion and prevent forces applied to the portion of the rear panel between the listing and the resilient means from stretching the portion of the rear panel which is above the listing.

3. The reclining seat of claim 2 wherein said resilient means is attached at one of its ends to a rigid rod member extending across at least the major portion of the width of the seat and anchored to the frame thereof.

4. The reclining seat of claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises an elastic sheet of material.

5. The reclining seat of claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises a plurality of elongated tension springs.

6. The reclining seat of claim 3 wherein said resilient means comprises an elastic sheet of material which is doubled over on itself so that its center portion is wrapped around said rigid rod member and its ends are sewn to the attachment portion of said rear panel portion, the rigid rod member being anchored to the seat frame.

7. The reclining seat of claim 3 wherein said resilient means comprises a plurality of compression springs which are attached at their forward ends to the seat frame and at their rearward ends to said rigid rod member, said rod member being sewn into the attachment portion of said rear panel portion. 

1. In a foam cushioned reclining seat having hinged seat and back cushions, the improvement comprising an upholstered seat back cover which covers the entire rear portion of the seat and back cushions, said seat back cover including a front panel portion having an attachment portion which passes between said cushions and is anchored to the seat frame under the seat cushion, said seat back cover further including a rear panel portion having an attachment portion extending under said seat cushion, resilient means attached to said attachment portion of said rear panel portion along the lower, forward edge thereof, said resilient means being positioned under said seat cushion and attached to the frame thereof forwardly of said rear panel portion under sufficient tension to permit said rear panel portion to remain taut in any position of adjustment of the seat back.
 2. The reclining seat of claim 1 wherein a listing is attached at one end to said rear panel portion near the bottom of the seat back cushion and at its other end to the lower portion of the back cushion, said listing serving to anchor said rear panel portion to said back cushion and prevent forces applied to the portion of the rear panel between the listing and the resilient means from stretching the portion of the rear panel which is above the listing.
 3. The reclining seat of claim 2 wherein said resilient means is attached at one of its ends to a rigid rod member extending across at least the major portion of the width of the seat and anchored to the frame thereof.
 4. The reclining seat of claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises an elastic sheet of material.
 5. The reclining seat of claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises a plurality of elongated tension springs.
 6. The reclining seat of claim 3 wherein said resilient means comprises an elastic sheet of material which is doubled over on itself so that its center portion is wrapped around said rigid rod member and its ends are sewn to the attachment portion of said rear panel portion, the rigid rod member being anchored to the seat frame.
 7. The reclining seat of claim 3 wherein said resilient means comprises a plurality of compression springs which are attached at their forward ends to the seat frame and at their rearward ends to said rigid rod member, said rod member being sewn into the attachment portion of said rear panel portion. 